In such apparatuses, vegetables are cut by means of disks rotating at high speed in the top of a bowl or receptacle, with the disks being capable of carrying various knives or cutting shapes. Under such conditions, in order to avoid accidents, it is essential to prevent contact between the disk and a finger of the user. In order to obtain this result, various regulations have defined a minimum height and a maximum diameter for a hopper or chute for inserting food to be cut. Unfortunately, these dimensions which are intended to prevent a hand from moving inside the chute also limit the use of such apparatuses to vegetables or other produce of relatively small cross-section. It then becomes necessary to cut up some foodstuffs prior to processing, thereby reducing the effectiveness of such apparatuses.
Proposals have already been made to provide such apparatuses with insertion means enabling them to be fed with vegetables or produce of relatively large size, e.g. cabbages or potatoes.
European patent publication EP-A-82 402004 describes a device for inserting large-sized food items into a food processor apparatus of the type comprising a base, a drive shaft projecting from the base to receive a blade-carrying cutter tool on a hub, with a motor being provided inside the base to rotate the drive shaft, and with the bowl being removably mounted on the base and surrounding the drive shaft. The device described in said patent comprises a tubular hopper whose diameter is substantially equal to the diameter of the bowl, with a partition projecting radially towards the center of the hopper, said partition being terminated by a central projection which extends over and covers the innermost edge of the blade, with the inside surface of the hopper covering the outermost edge of the blade when the tool is mounted on the hub. The purpose of the radial wall is to hold the produce to be cut, since if the wall was absent, the produce would rotate. The disk carrying at least one cutting tool serves to separate the feed hopper from the bowl for receiving the cut produce. Also, in order to ensure that cutting takes place normally, it is necessary to apply pressure on the produce to be cut. This pressure can be applied by means of a pusher whose cross-section is substantially equal to the cross-section of the hopper. Safety is ensured in EP-A-82 402004 by the presence of a pusher in the chute.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,917 an adaptor slides around the chute and is used in co-operation with a captive pusher. In this embodiment, the motor ON/OFF switch is controlled by a member fixed to the adaptor and is switched on only when the cover is in place and locked onto the bowl with the adaptor mounted around the chute.
Another solution described in French patent document FR-A-2 403 771 is used in professional equipment. It consists in using a tall cylindrical hopper mounted over the bowl, with the inside wall of the hopper having vertical slots for receiving at least one radial partition extending at least as far as the immediate proximity of the center of the hopper. The hopper pusher has slots to allow the pusher to pass in the sectors between the partitions. The pusher is actuated by a piston and co-operates with a switch which enables the motor to be switched on only when the pusher is in such a position as to close a sector of not less than 180.degree. C. of the inlet area to the hopper. Although this allows large-sized foodstuffs to be processed, it also requires a specially adapted blade and a plurality of partitions, and the results both at the center and round the edges of the hopper are not satisfactory.
Other hoppers enabling relatively large-sized foodstuffs to be inserted are described in the following patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,075, DE-A-2 542 084, U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,103 and GB-B-701 674. None of these hoppers gives full satisfaction for a professional vegetable cutter.